Author Archives: admin

How About No Parking For Kooky Dog Walkers?

Posted on by

Congress Ext

Citing costs, the need for zoning changes, and the availability of parking some hundred yards away on Forest Lodge Road, the Council went with the lower-cost – and potentially revenue-generating – option of installing more “no parking” signs and asking Pacific Grove Police to enforce the no parking zone.

This example of wasted efforts started back in January. While all attention was being placed on giving dog owners a place to DRIVE TO & PARK THEIR CARS AT so they can then take a walk, the rest of the city is crumbling.

Besides, if P.G. really wanted to use parking fines as a way to increase revenue, all they need to do is go to the 200 block of Fountain where restaurant workers/owners park their cars all day long..

Parking Victorian Corner Cars

How About No Parking For Kooky Dog Walkers?

Pine Cone Juxtaposition

Posted on by

Front page:

“They were driving southbound on Alva Lane in the Pebble Beach area and were just north of 17 Mile Drive when they approached a curve in the road at what appeared to be an unsafe speed,” he said, describing the accident that occurred just before 6 p.m. June 12. “The driver lost control, and the vehicle ran off the road on the right side and struck a tree on the driver’s side.”

James Crane, founder of one of the nation’s largest freight companies in Houston, Texas, and owner of the 2003 Ferrari 575M Maranello, was riding in the passenger seat and was unharmed, according to Wiest. But the driver, Neil Kelley, also from Houston and CEO of an energy trading firm there, suffered major injuries. Both men are in their 50s.

Page 11:

A crackdown on fast driving in Del Monte Forest that began nearly three years ago has resulted in lower speeds, fewer accidents and overall less crime, according to the Pebble Beach Community Services District.
Since October 2006, California Highway Patrol officers have regularly patrolled Del Monte Forest, an effort the PBCSD says has been highly successful.

Pine Cone Juxtaposition

Our Mvsevm Is Gone

Posted on by

Public-Private Partnership. Cradle of Corruption.

The Mvsevm

Opinion Piece in Hear-Old by our own esteemed judge of morons, Dan Cort.

Despite the museum’s cultural and scientific treasures, the city had cut the museum’s budget to a bare minimum and more cuts were on the horizon. But with the City Council’s vote Wednesday night, it looks like the museum will emerge from a chrysalis of under-funding and near-closure to a revitalized resource with an energetic future. What lessons can we learn from this success to help keep other community assets viable in these financially challenging times?

The answer is we need to reinvent our relationship with our government. We need to realize that government is very good at some things, and the private sector is very good at others. By forming partnerships between government and the private sector, we can strive to achieve the best of both worlds. In Pacific Grove we’re doing just that. The city and a private group of citizens formed a public-private partnership that was supported Wednesday night by the City Council..

Our Mvsevm Is Gone

Substainable Pacific Grove To Take Over Safeway?

Posted on by

Mayor Cort thinks that adding ‘substainable features’ to a business is somehow beneficial. Maybe more morons will shop there. Disagree and maybe they will impose eminent domain to take over the property and ruin Forest Hill too.

Safeway Forest Hill 3 Forths

Cort says the city-owned Bathhouse, golf clubhouse and golf links should be tapped to make more money. The city should encourage the Safeway on Forest Avenue to expand and add green features, he says, and look for more opportunities to use philanthropy for public services.

Sustainable Pacific Grove To Take Over Safeway?

Maybe The Flags Will Draw Shoppers

Posted on by

Soon, in addition to the flags, the public will notice an improvement in the planters on Lighthouse. Through a cooperative involving the BID, Pacific Grove Public Works, Jeanne Anton of the Beautification and Natural Resources Committee and volunteers

Planter in need of improvement:

A Bird In Every Pot

And the merchants themselves might need to look at their own way of doing business. “I heard it just last weekend from a regular out-of-town customer who had once considered opening a business here. She said, ‘You’d have to be filthy rich to open a business in Pacific Grove. They’re closed all day Sunday and they go home at 5:00 p.m., exactly when most working people can go shopping.’

So true of the downtown retail shops. Art galleries have even shorter hours.

Maybe The Flags Will Draw Shoppers

P.G. Police Delay Their 9.8% Raise

Posted on by

9.8% in times like these. Wow.

PG Cops On Break

Association President Ami Losinger said police are willing to forgo the 9.8 percent raise authorized in their contract with the city — that expires in December 2010 — until January, a move that would save the city approximately $275,000 this year and next year.

In return, she said, the police association asked that its contract be extended through 2012 and that raises be paid in steps starting next year.

P.G. Police Delay Their 9.8% Raise

Must Be Nice – Six Figure P.G. Pensioners

Posted on by

5,115 retired California government workers receive pensions in excess of $100,000 from CalPERS.

Pensions PERS

There is a proposition in the making to stop the insanity – but I’m afraid it’s too late.

Proposed reforms include increasing the retirement age of 50 for public safety workers to 58. It would bump the eligibility for other employees to at least age 65, a figure consistent with the federal Social Security retirement age.

As an additional financial savings, Richman said, the increase in the retirement age would reduce local costs for retiree health care costs as retirees would qualify for federal Medicare at age 65.

The foundation also seeks an end to policies that allow employees to spike their pension benefits, sometimes to figures higher than what they earned while they worked.

“Throughout California, public agencies are paying 15 to 20 percent of their budgets on retirement costs and that’s only going to go up,” Richman said. “It’s unsustainable. Government entities will either go bankrupt, like the city of Vallejo, or they are going to die from 1,000 cuts in services.”

Must Be Nice – Six Figure P.G. Pensioners

Cannery Row Offers Free Parking For Locals

Posted on by

Postcard Cannery Row Hoffman
Cannery Row Post Card – 1970s

Hoping to help customers during these tough economic times, the business improvement district for Cannery Row, the Cannery Row Business Association developed a parking initiative offering locals free parking daily after 4 p.m. in the Cannery Row Garage located on Foam Street between Hoffman and Prescott Streets.

Customers who wish to park for free in the garage simply need to show a valid driver’s license with a current zip code beginning with “939”. The parking initiative is available through Dec. 31.

Meh. Downtown P.G. offers free parking to anyone all days of the week. Even when over the 90 minute limit there is little chance of having to pay – enforcement downtown is nil.

Cannery Row Offers Free Parking For Locals

Aramark Gets Asilomar Deal

Posted on by

Wonder if they can kick out the 483 union?

Aramark Parks & Destinations will officially take over operation of Asilomar Conference Grounds on Sept. 14, said an executive of the company it is replacing.

General Manager Patrick Sheridan of Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, which has operated Asilomar for the past 10 years, said DNC had unsuccessfully challenged the award. Aramark was the only other bidder on the contract, said Roy Stearns of State Parks.

DNC has about 240 employees working at Asilomar, Sheridan said, and Aramark has committed to retaining as many of them as possible. Operations through this summer will be “business as usual,” he said, as DNC and Aramark negotiate the transition.

Aramark Gets Asilomar Deal